SOLAR:
• A Missouri utility has begun to pay higher rebates for new west-facing solar arrays in order to encourage production during peak demand. (Midwest Energy News)• Officials approve a housing project in Ann Arbor, Michigan that will be the city’s first solar-powered, mixed-income, net-zero cottage community. (MLive)

WIND:
• The CEO of American Electric Power says the risks associated with spending $4.5 billion on an 800-turbine wind project in Oklahoma are still less than those associated with building traditional power plants. (Columbus Business First)• Minnesota-based Allete Clean Energy plans an $80 million project to refurbish wind turbines at sites in Iowa and Minnesota. (Sioux City Journal)

PIPELINES: Canadian energy officials say Enbridge’s Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinac is a “critical piece of infrastructure to Ontario,” while advocates note the province doesn’t bear any risk in the event of a spill. (MLive)

OIL AND GAS:
• The Minnesota-based contractor that damaged a natural gas pipeline in North Dakota last week has a history of striking pipelines and damaging other infrastructure. (Bismarck Tribune)• North Dakota officials are holding a hearing today on an application for a mobile oilfield waste treatment plant. (Bismarck Tribune)

EPA:
• U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt reverses course on an earlier decision to delay the implementation of Obama-era rules reducing emissions of smog-causing air pollutants. (Associated Press)
• Pruitt is scheduled to visit the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center next week. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR:
• Exelon officials are confident that zero-emissions credits supporting nuclear plants in Illinois and New York will prevail in the courts. (RTO Insider)• If power prices increase and Exelon’s Illinois plants are able to “stand on their own two feet, the subsidies likely will remain at high levels.” (Crain’s Chicago Business)

COAL: A national coal miner’s union is at odds with a federal program aimed at increasing safety training after an uptick in coal mining deaths this year. (Associated Press)

***SPONSORED LINK: Energy leaders — make your nominations today for the 2017 Midwest Energy News 40 Under 40. Open to nominations from all sectors involved in the Midwest’s energy transition.***

UTILITIES: Ohio utility regulators approve an emergency surcharge on customers of a steam heat and cooling facility in Youngstown in order to keep the plant open. (Youngstown Vindicator)

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RESEARCH: Analysts in Minnesota are joining others across the country to create standardized data from utilities to help counties and cities understand energy use for climate programs. (Midwest Energy News)

TRADE:
• In a high profile trade case, the Trump administration will impose a 30 percent tariff on imported solar photovoltaic modules and cells. The tariffs will decline by 5 percent each year until 2022.